Watch this thief realize he’s being recorded during car break-in

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MODESTO, Calif. — California police are looking for this brazen thief who broke into several cars in a Modesto neighborhood, according to KTXL.

In a matter of seconds, the thief is seen in a dashcam video reaching into Mark Linneman's Chevrolet Silverado with a flashlight last Thursday night on Maddux Avenue.

"My phone actually alerts if something happens with my truck and my phone did get an alert but I was asleep. I had just gone to sleep so I didn't hear it," Linneman told KTXL.

As Linneman and his family slept, the thief is seen rummaging through the lifted pickup truck.

At one point, the suspect actually gets into the driver's seat and shuts the door, but not before looking directly at Linneman's Owl dashcam.

"It's a feeling of violation just knowing that someone was in your stuff, sitting there and if I didn't have a camera I wouldn't even have known," Linneman said.

In the video, the suspect eventually realizes he is being recorded and covers the camera, taking off with a $600 amplifier.

"I work hard for my stuff and for someone to come and take that, you know, it's wrong," Linneman said. "They need to know that they're doing wrong. They're going to get caught."

His truck was not the only vehicle broken into that night.

"(The thief) went through all three of our cars and I believe the neighbor's as well," Linneman explained.

Linneman said he's shocked this happened in their normally quiet neighborhood.

"We never have any break-ins or problems on this street," he said. "So it's a really nice neighborhood, and so for someone to come through here and do that, it hurts."

He learned the hard way that it only takes one time of forgetting to lock your doors for thieves to seize the opportunity. From now on, he'll be double checking they are locked.

"I'm just going to be aware that there is thieves out there," Linneman said. "Don't get too comfortable in your own neighborhood even if you know it's a nice neighborhood. There's other people that come from out of town or from a next neighborhood over that are looking to do harm."

Modesto police are reviewing the video and investigating the break-in but so far no arrest has been made.